Hoping to inspire and encourage those interested in drawing or painting to have-a-go.

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Eilean Donan Castle

You may recall from my last post that I did a practice piece of this castle a few weeks ago. Since then I've been working on the drawing proper. This is much larger than I usually work (on 16" x 12" Daler-Rowney Heavyweight paper) and it's surprised me as to how much longer a large drawing takes compared to a smaller one. I suppose it should have been obvious but there's a lot of little pen marks in this drawing. A picture twice the size seems to have taken 8 times longer to do.

Another 'first' for me was that I used several reference photo's. With shadows, lack of colour and a flat grainy photograph I found some of the details difficult to put into perspective, but having several photo's taken at different times of day and from different viewpoints enabled me to get a better understanding of how the various walls and buildings fit together.

As I stated in my previous post, this particular view of the castle isn't quite balanced as the bridge runs out too far to the right leaving a large empty space to the right of the castle. I had intended to use artistic licence to insert a tree into that space to balance things up but I've changed my mind and cropped the picture to exclude one of the bridge spans. A few birds in the empty space adds some balance.

I'm really pleased that I did the practice piece (something else I don't usually bother with) as it helped me understand which hatching/shading worked and which didn't. I didn't want to make the hatching obvious and believe that if done right it should blend seamlessly into the whole.

32 comments:

LOVE it !!! I belive that this is my absolute favourite amongs all of your drawing of buildings. It´s super! This second drawing of the castle is, as you say, balanced. The bridge doesn´t stick out any. It looks great. And I love the hatchings you did inside the bridge. They fit the bridge great. I have no words for this!!!! Beautyful!!!!! Ten out of ten from me John :)

Well done John. It's interesting to read about all the new things you're trying, and it's certainly paying off in the quality of your work. I suppose it's inevitable that a bigger drawing is going to take longer: you can't just use a bigger pen unfortunately!

One thing bothers me about this one: because the shoreline slopes upwards, it seems to tip the whole drawing to the right. I think it might have been better if it was more horizontal. What do you think?

LOL ... I'd thought twice as big therefore twice as long. WRONG!! Twice as big equals 8 times longer. And not helped by the fact that I did most of it with my finest pen in order to preserve detail.

It's an interesting point you make about the shoreline but it's not something I'd noticed to be honest, in fact I slavishly followed the reference photo as I always tend to do. Another thought is whether the angle of the hatching gives the illusion of the building tipping to the right.

I see what you mean, in a later comment, about not wanting the shoreline to look like a river. Maybe it's just the way I see it, as it doesn't seem to bother other people. You could be right about the hatching: I suppose that's a potential problem with regular diagonal lines.

Truth is Keith, in my inexperience I tend to just follow the photo so it didn't get any thought one way or the other. But I have noticed the hatching can have a significant effect on perspective if I get the lines going the wrong way. Thank you for your observation ... it's greatly appreciated.

Everytime you do one of these John I can't help but think you'll not get any better.. but WRONG!By now though if I had to pick out one I would really not be able to as they are all so good.I don't find the slope in the shoreline to be a problem ... the right side (bridge) balances it perfectly.Barbra Joan

What a lovely thing for you to say Barbra Joan. I have to admit that I am enjoying working in pencil and pen. I've always wanted to be a watercolourist like you but I'll never get to your standard. Thank you for your observation about the shoreline .... it's something I never gave any thought to. Take care.

Thank you for coming back to add another comment Catarina. For me, if the shoreline had been level it would have made the water look more like a river. This castle sits on it's own small island, and I think the shoreline helps depict this. I appreciate your comment very much. ;-)

Hi JohnI liked the energy of your practice piece, which this was has lost - because you were trying to get it right? May I suggest for the practice piece, if, as you said, the aim is to work on tones, shadows etc., then do it in pencil. This serves 2 purposes. 1st you can really work the tones and see where they need to be, plus correct easier than ink. 2nd. when you come to ink, it will have the freshness that comes from doing something for the first time.Hope you don't mind me saying this.

Hi Sue, of course I don't mind your suggestions and am very grateful for your time and interest. This is the first time I've done a practice piece proper and I did feel much stiffer and disciplined while doing the final drawing. I hadn't thought of using pencil for the practice the piece and that's a great suggestion. Thank you very much.

Wonderful work as always. I particularly enjoyed your solution with the birds! I am amazed at the line work here! Just spectacular. And I have to say how wonderful it is to see you back in the swing of things. I'm using your energy to help ignite my spark. sucker sputtered and went out...completely!

and thank you too for your much needed comment on Reflections 2!! Most appreciated my friend! Keep on!!

Stunning work on this John. The castle is magnificent in real life but so is your graphite interpretation of it. Hope all is good with you. PS: Haven't got a problem with the shoreline. Having been there I know the land actually veers off in that direction, so to me it makes sense.

JWJ Art Forum - recent topics

About Me

I am just an ordinary, happily married, working guy. A few years ago, in my mid-fifties, I was given a book about watercolours for beginners and a basic set of paints. And so it began. Wanting to get some feedback on my paintings I turned to the internet and then, finding little suitable for the beginner, I started my own site. Art, painting, site design, html, php, css ... one way or another it's been a fabulous learning curve and several years later I still consider myself a raw beginner.